After coming off the bench last week to register his first Monaco goal, Folarin Balogun had a game to forget, while Emmanuel Sabbi came off the bench for Le Havre.
Monaco 0 – 1 Nice
Folarin Balogun got the nod for AS Monaco, his first start, and went the distance in a game where he could have been the hero, if not for taking two penalties and missing both of them. In the end, the Red and White came away with nothing in Le Derby de la Côte d’Azur as they fell to a solitary goal from Jérémie Boga.
This was always going to be a tight contest between two teams in the top three of Ligue 1, but the lead should have been Monaco’s with just a dozen minutes played at the Stade Louis II. When Jordan Lotomba fouled Russian midfielder Aleksandr Golovin in the box, the Swiss defender probably expected his mistake to be crucial. Balogun put the ball on the spot and struck it right down the middle but Marcin Bulka made the save.
In first-half stoppage time, Balogun almost redeemed himself from a corner kick when he got off a powerful header, only to see it saved by the post.
The American attacker again had the chance to make things right ten minutes after the intermission after former Liverpool winger Takumi Minamino was brought down in the box. The U.S. nat tried the same right-footed shot and Bulka made the same save, to twice deny the 22-year-old.
Dominating possession 60-40 percent but being out-shot by the visitors ten to seven, sharing the points would have been a fair result for both sides but it was not to be as Nice struck in stoppage time. Melvin Bard set up Jérémie Boga who released a right-footed shot from the center of the box and tucked it into the bottom right corner for the game-winner.
The loss drops Monaco down to third place but they’ll hope to bounce back when they go up against sixth-place Marseille.
Notes
Emmanuel Sabbi came off the bench for Le Havre in the 74th minute after all the goals had been scored in their 2-1 victory over last-place Clermont. The American midfielder will hope to pick up some more playing time when they host Tim Weah’s former club, Lille.
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